Hurricane Ike Funds FAQ

Hurricane Ike Recovery Funds Question

Question:

Although 2007 Annual county data from TWC Tracer is the data source listed for calculating points for Unemployment rate (see Page 15 of the Application), it appears that all applicants within a particular county will use the same county unemployment rates, and will therefore receive same score for this factor. Is this correct? If not, please explain.

Answer:

Every effort should be made to break the information down to the city level or the area served, for the unemployment rate. TWC Tracer has a number of East Texas Cities listed, however it has come to our attention that not every city that is eligible has information available on this site. Therefore, ETCOG is requesting that US Census data from 2000 be used for the unemployment rate for the smallest level possible.

City unemployment rates in the Quick Tables in American Fact Finder would be an appropriate source; however, the information provided can allow us to make a third calculation 3) percentage of the total labor force. While this will not be a huge impact at the city level, when it comes to the census track or block group level, the significance could be more dramatic. It is a matter of performing a quick calculation:

# of Unemployed (both sexes) divided by # in Labor Force (both sexes)

For smaller cities data will have to be taken from the Detailed Tables. This is simply a small matter of drawing down Table P43 for your specific area (census tract or block group). The correct formulas would then be*:

Male in labor force + Female in labor force = Total in labor force

Male unemployed + Female unemployed = Total unemployed

Unemployment Rate = Total Unemployed divided by Total in labor force

*All calculations are aged 16 & over, P43 Sex by Employment Status for the Population 16 Years and Over

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Question:

If an entity is limited to $500,000 in funding, then how can a county whose 40% allocation is greater than $500,000 access the amount over $500,000?

Answer:

a. Is a county government limited to $500,000 in funding for improvements to county-owned facilities and infrastructure?

b. Is assistance to other entities, like water supply corporations, the only way a county can receive more than $500,000 in funding?

Each project is limited to $250,000 with each entity limited to $500,000. Therefore an entity can submit multiple projects but cannot exceed $500,000 in total funding. County governments are limited to $500,000 as are other entities. For example if a county was to submit applications for 4 county facilities, each for $250,000, only 2 applications could be funded within the $500,000 cap. If the projects are reduced to $100,000 then all four could be funded.

Water Supply Corporations are eligible for funding under the ORCA guidelines. They are required to be sponsored by the county in which they operate or the majority of their customers reside. While the funding for WSCs does come from the 40% allocation for County projects it is not considered as part of the County's total funding cap. Only County owned facilities apply toward the overall funding limit.

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Question:

The Non-Housing Activities application does not require applicants to provide the COG with the amount of disaster recovery funds that will be needed for engineering design and grant administration. As a result the COG will not be provided the total projected cost of any project. Does this mean 1) that applicants will be required to fund engineering and grant administration costs from non-grant sources?, or 2) that the number of fundable projects within a county will be lower than the number

Answer:

Since the maximum amount for any project is $250,000 any costs in excess of this amount do not need to be shown. However, in order to get a better cost estimate which will give the projects a more accurate picture of which projects will likely be funded, ETCOG is requesting that TABLE 2 be completed and submitted with the application for those projects that fall below $250,000. This table was not included with the mailed applications. Those applications that do not include this table will not be penalized in any way and the funding amount will not be reflected in the scoring. This is only to show where the cutoff for funding will be. ETCOG will contact those applicants who need to include this form prior to the release of the rankings.

Table 2

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Question:

Certain large facilities do not score favorably under the scoring factors of Per Capita Income and Poverty Status. It is critical for the entire State of Texas and other areas of the County that the facilities impacted by Hurricane Ike stay operational. The operation of the facilities impacts the entire East Texas Region and large populations (which are almost 100% low and moderate income) arriving from other parts of the State or other disaster areas.

Answer:

Large facilities may serve a majority of the county or in some cases may encompass multiple counties. In these cases an applicant may look at the entire area served not just the general area in which the facility is located. However, it should be noted as to what methodology was used and how the information in derived. Example: If a facility located in the Southern part of the county serves a specific area in the north part of the county, especially in times of emergency, such as a hurricane then data from that area may be used with an explanation of why the data was chosen.

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Question:	Can you define what a “project” is? If a city is applying for 3 generators is that 1 project, or 3? I’m not quite clear of the $250,000 cap per project and $500,000 per entity.
Answer:	Each generator is a project with a cap of $250,000. The city would then be limited to a total $500,000. If each project is $250,000; the city can get two. If they are each $100,000; the city can receive 5.

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